Interested in implementing BlackLine, but lack the time, knowledge, or resources to successfully do so on your own? The BlackLine solution has complexities that should be carefully considered and configured. It takes skill, experience, and know-how to get it right the first time. Having a partner that knows the intricacies of BlackLine will save you and your team valuable time and money.
What Is a Partner?
In the context of implementing BlackLine, a partner is a certified and BlackLine-supported consulting organization. Partners have experience with a vast number of implementations, spanning multiple clients across various industries. They also have a track record of working well with the internal BlackLine consulting team to get the job done — successfully and efficiently. BlackLine requires its partners to be certified on the modules every year, along with staying informed of changes and updates to the BlackLine solution. There are many aspects of the implementation and process improvement in which partners can prove their usefulness.
Be the Intermediary
Implementing BlackLine requires back-and-forth work between the organization implementing the software and BlackLine themselves. The amount of interaction can be dependent upon the module being implemented, but each module requires work from both parties. Having a partner can relieve the project team of some of the burden related to the heavier technical discussions and decisions with BlackLine.
For example, in the Account Reconciliation and Task modules, there are critical settings that the partner and company will discuss, but only BlackLine can enable. Partners can discuss their vision for the software with the customer and convert that into the language and requests that BlackLine requires for setting up the application appropriately.
This is also common while setting up the connection between the customer ERP system and BlackLine. There may be several questions the BlackLine team has for the customer that require the project team to do research or go to their internal IT team to get answers. The partner, in this scenario, can be the intermediary and provide some of the answers based on their own experiences, eliminating the need for the project team to research an answer.
The partner’s responsibility is to keep the project team (BlackLine consultants and customer) aware of what is happening on the BlackLine side — the customer should never be in the dark about the project status.
The Heavy Lifting: Data Integration, Tie-Out, and Organization
When implementing BlackLine, the most time-consuming step for the customer is the collection and organization of the data to be loaded into the software. For instance, in the Reconciliation module, information about the entity structure, users and their roles, account balances, account assignments (i.e., who prepares and approves what accounts), frequency of reconciliation, etc. must all be collected. The Task module requires the collection of tasks to be completed, identification of who is signing off on the tasks, and how often they are to be completed.
One of our experiences with a customer included approximately 70 BlackLine users, close to 1,000 reconciliations, and about 700 tasks. It took nearly 60 hours to get the data collected, organized, and in the proper BlackLine import format. Allowing a partner to handle the majority of this data organization and efficiently load your data into the solution will maximize your team’s time and budget.
A Trusted Extension of Your Team
A partner will act as an extension of your project and accounting team during the implementation. They will also provide post-go-live support and assistance. This support is imperative to fall back on when needed. Your partner will represent your accounting team in meetings regarding the implementation with internal stakeholders (e.g., IT) and BlackLine. A trusted partner will understand the project team’s goals and be able to communicate how to accomplish them without needing the project team to hold their hand.
A partner is also able to represent your project team when talking with other BlackLine users who may not have been involved in the planning or development of the solution. The partner should be able to train, inform, and assist these users based on their knowledge of current and future practices and processes developed by the organization.
Years of Experience and Expertise
When adding external resources to your project team, not only should you ensure that those partners are BlackLine certified, but they should also have several years of experience implementing the system across a variety of clients. Using an experienced BlackLine implementation partner allows the organization to rely on them for information and details that may otherwise require a great deal of research and investigation. From simple to complex questions and issues, an experienced partner has likely seen it or has multiple resources available to identify the proper solution.
Along with the technical side of implementing the system, a partner should be able to provide real-world expertise from time spent working in the accounting field. This expertise should cover a wide range of accounting practices including SOX controls, involvement with audits, and experience completing or approving reconciliations. For many organizations, implementing BlackLine not only focuses on the use of a new solution, but also on improving month-end processes and procedures. A partner who has BlackLine expertise and experience with the month-end close process can help enhance current procedures with advice, information, and training. Any potential BlackLine partner will provide you with references to prove a successful track record with other clients.
Real-World Examples From a Certified Partner
About seven years ago, a mid-sized company implemented BlackLine — to save a little money, they opted not to use a partner. The BlackLine solution was never fully integrated into the company’s month end processes — it was used as more of a repository of information that was not overly useful. Fast forward seven years: looking for ways to improve usage, the company reached out for a review of their system. By using an experienced partner for this review, the company hopes to take the items noted during the process and get BlackLine performing as originally intended.
Another example involves a small accounting team within a large company. The team implemented the Reconciliations module without the assistance of a partner and years later says, “We didn’t know what we didn’t know.” There were many aspects of the system that they would have opted for initially had they used a partner who could explain all intricacies of the application before go-live. It took them a few years to get the Reconciliations module to a much more useful state as they learned things along the way. This team went on to implement the Matching module with a certified partner and shares that this experience went much smoother — the Matching module was a solidified part of their month-end process much faster than Reconciliations were.
Lastly, a client contacted us to implement an additional BlackLine module after initially starting down the path with a non-certified consulting firm. The non-certified firm had experience in implementing ERP systems, but not BlackLine. Eventually, they got to a point where the ERP consultant could not help with the details of BlackLine as they initially thought. To ensure the successful implementation of their BlackLine solution, they had to reach out to a certified partner to complete the implementation.
For many organizations, the value of utilizing a trusted partner is immeasurable. Whether your team is short on resources, you need someone with other ideas and expertise, or someone to take charge and fully lead the project, a partner is there to provide this for you. Finding the right fit for your organization can take some time but selecting a partner with a proven track record of being helpful, efficient, and experienced is well worth the effort. While it may seem like you are paying more to utilize a partner, the ROI is much higher with increased success rates, along with better knowledge transfer and training.
